but it will be fun to cover nonetheless. that's it for me. thanks everyone for watching. do appreciate it. suzanne malveaux will be back in the chair soon enough. in the meantime, i hand the baton over to brooke baldwin who continues with "cnn newsroom" after this. >> the ruminations of ashleigh banfield on this monday. i'm brooke baldwin. let's jump right in, president obama obama, mitt romney, both lying low, cramming for tomorrow night's town hall debate. you see the sign, it is happening at hofstra university. the president playing catch-up and they will be debating one another inside this hall, this is hempstead, new york. we have a correspondent right there. so stand by for that as we catch you up on where we are today. >> we haven't dedicated our electoral votes since 1984 to the republican nominee. it is time we change that. let's make sure -- >> paul ryan campaigned this morning in his home state of wisconsin, talked up the

packers, talked up mitt romney and reminded supporters that wisconsin has developed a habit of voting democratic. we will talk about how wisconsin may prove crucial here. >> we have republicans trying to redefine rape. >> trying to force women to undergo invasive ultrasounds. >> if -- >> scarlett johansson fronting this new ad geared toward women, actress kelly washington and eva longoria appear in the pro obama spot sponsored by moveon.org. >> he has to be more energetic. you'll see someone very passionate about the -- >> looking ahead to tomorrow night's debate, the president's supporters were looking for more oomph. team obama set up camp in williamsburg, virginia, there is the president with some pizza, stopping by to thank volunteers. and within just these past couple of hours we have adjusted our cnn poll of polls. let me show that to you now. and as you will see here in a second, as of this moment, it is showing a one-point lead for

mitt romney. but take a look at this one. washington post, abc, they have a new poll out as well, the poll, three-point lead for obama. we'll look at some of the states here in just a moment. first, as promised, cnn's jim acosta is standing by for us now. this is romney's home base of boston, massachusetts. and, jim, we have talked, you know, the pressure on the president for this debate tomorrow night. what about romney? he was clearly the victor of the first debate. is he preparing for a more aggressive barack obama, one who will, you know, certainly be looking to even the score? >> reporter: i think so, brooke. you know, you heard ron portman who is mitt romney's chief sparring partner say on the sunday talk show yesterday the president will come out swinging. i think that's an indication that they are preparing for that scenario to emerge at the debate tomorrow night. you know, one other thing that has emerged out of the debate preparations, though not very much, brooke, these two candidates are competitive when it comes to just about

everything including just how little they're saying to reporters about how these debate preparations are going on. but i will tell you that there is some conversation going on. i think on both campaigns, inside both campaigns as to how this will go on tomorrow evening in this town hall style format. as you know, because it is a town hall style format, there will be people in the audience asking questions of both candidates. and, brooke, i have to tell you in the last 24 hours, there have been some reports out there that both campaigns have been raising concerns about this format and whether or not our moderator cnn's candy crowley will be able to ask follow-up questions. and apparently there has been some discussion going on inside both campaigns about some of this. i talked to one senior campaign adviser who said they're going to be prepared for whatever happens, no matter the scenario, whether or not there are follow-up questions from the moderator, or not. but that just goes to show you

how intense these preparations are and how high the stakes are right now because of the polls. this race is essentially deadlocked, not only nationally, but in several key battleground states. so it just goes to show you why they're paying attention to the very fine details. >> sure, certainly the stakes are very, very high for both candidates. i will say obviously all of us supporting candy crowley and she's a smart cookie and she's obviously studying up as any of the previous moderators have dating all the way back. nothing is different from this format from other town hall debates in the past. i was reading up this morning, jim, on the three specific states and we have three swing state polls. let me take you first, poll of polls, virginia, obama up one, florida now showing a three-point lead for mitt romney there and finally ohio, a three-point lead for obama. jim, generally speaking, things are looking up for mitt romney. but perhaps we should point out that the oddsmakers seem to think romney has to sweep these

three states, specifically these three states, virginia, florida and ohio. is that the case? a must-win all three to win november 6th? >> reporter: forgive me, brooke, for holding my ear piece like this, i'm having a tough time hearing you right now with the audio coming in. but with respect to those three states, i mean, those are the three states that everybody is focusing on right now, ohio and florida and virginia, those three states could very well determine the outcome of this election. and basically what is going on here, brooke, is that all three of those states were won by the president the last time around. and so you have both campaigns going through all of these different scenarios with the battleground map, you know, pulling one state out, putting two states back in. you heard rob portman on one of the sunday talk shows yesterday saying that reminding everybody that no republican has gone on to win the presidency without winning ohio. that is why you had paul ryan in his home state of wisconsin,

earlier this morning because if they do lose, if the romney campaign does lose two out of the three becomes incredibly difficult to put together this 270 electoral votes they need to win this election. and so, yeah, i mean, the fact that these battleground state polls are deadlocked in our cnn poll of polls and national poll of poll number indicates how very tight this race is, and how very important this debate is tomorrow night. which explains why the campaigns are being very secretive, very quiet right now about their preparations. and also being, frankly, very interested almost to the minutia as to how these rules are going to be applied in the debate tomorrow night, whether they'll be follow-up questions from candy, won't be follow-up questions from candy, all of that is in the discussion now because the stakes are just so high right now. >> jim acosta in boston, jim, thank you. want to continue sort of part of the point jim was making, we promised we would take you it the scene of tomorrow night's

debate. candy crowley will host the thing. paul steinhauser, to you, our political editor there in hempstead, new york, on the campus of hofstra university. and, paul, let's start at the beginning in terms of the rules, the format of the town hall. from what i understand, this is the very same kind of format as we have seen in town halls past. is that correct? >> reporter: it sure is. here is the deal. you have the two candidates in there, you're going to have candy crowley, the moderator, obviously. you're also going to have about 80 people in the audience, the town hall part of the audience. and these 80 people are all undecided voters, chosen by gallup and they'll ask questions. we'll see about 12 to 15 questions from the audience members. that's kind of how it is going to work. the key here, brooke, is less about scoring points against your opponent, romney versus obama, or obama versus romney, it is more about connecting with the town hall audience members, the ones asking the candidates the questions and, of course, connecting at home. that's why the format is different and that's why it is going to be a different dynamic

tomorrow night. so, brooke, we're looking forward to an interesting debate. yes, a showdown, but really more about connecting with the audience. one other thing, jim acosta was saying it is an important debate. it sure is. here is another sign of how important it is. they have coffee thermoses here. we didn't get them last time. we're getting one today. >> have fun in new york. as we mentioned round two for president obama, mitt romney, tomorrow night. our special live coverage begins here on cnn 7:00 eastern. it is one of the worst case scenarios, weapons meant for syrian rebels ending up in the hands of jihadists and this one report suggests it is happening. i'm brooke baldwin. the news is now. he was the center of our universe as a family. >> a man gets into a car accident, gets steroid injections, and weeks later he's gone. cnn investigates. plus, first the taliban

target a teenage girl, and now she's moved out of pakistan for treatment. the militant promise her family is next. and an american basketball player once feared iran. he accepts a gig there anyway, a gig that changes his life. ♪ [ male announcer ] how do you turn an entrepreneur's dream... ♪ into a scooter that talks to the cloud? ♪ or turn 30-million artifacts... ♪ into a high-tech masterpiece? ♪ whatever your business challenge, dell has the technology and services to help you solve it. boring. boring. [ jack ] after lauren broke up with me,

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at meineke i have options... like oil changes starting at $19.95. my money. my choice. my meineke. she is the face of a movement much bigger than herself. malala yousufzai who was shot in the head by the taliban for declaring her right to go to school has just arrived in britain for treatment. but as she is there, and clinging on to life, the world is rallying around her. as you see in these pictures, look at the crowds, tens of thousands gathered in karachi, pakistan, sunday, men, women, children, holding signs that say shame on you, taliban. school girls in abu dhabi sang songs, held pictures of young malala, also former british prime minister gordon brown, he is speaking out as well.

he is saying malala's plight highlights the struggle for education millions of children face. in addition, former defense secretary donald rumsfeld took to twitter, he tweets this, today 3 million plus girls are in afghan schools. the shooting of malala yousufzai should remind us if the taliban regain control, they won't be. the taliban is saying no girls should be educated have claimed responsibility for the shooting. they have also threatened to go after malala if she survives. cnn's senior international correspondent dan rivers is in birmingham, england, for us. first off, how is she? >> reporter: well, she's being assessed now. we have not been given any updates on her condition. she still has not remained -- regained consciousness as far as we're aware. she's been in a medically induced coma since that shooting. she arrived here earlier on this afternoon, at about 4:20 local

time. the plane came into the local airport, an air ambulance provided by the united arab emirates and brought by ambulance to the queen elizabeth hospital here in birmingham, which is a center for the treatment of gunshot wounds. they treat a lot of soldiers from afghanistan. the medical director here told us that they have treated every single british battlefield casualty for the last ten years or so. so they have really got a massive pool of expertise and facilities here to draw on. and now that long process of assessing her condition is getting under way. one of the first things they're going to do is try to do some imaging on her head and her brain, using an mri scanner so build up a sort of 3-d picture of her head to see exactly what needs to be done. >> do we know, dan, as they're assessing her condition, if she has at all suffered permanent

brain damage? >> reporter: we don't know because she has not regained consciousness. they said -- the director told us that, you know, they think there is a chance of her making a good recovery, that they wouldn't have gone to the extraordinary lengths that they have to organize this transfer if they didn't think there was a possibility that she may recover somewhat. we just don't know the extent to which she could recover, but that's what they're doing right now is seeing the extent of the damage to her brain, the damage to her skull, what needs to be reconstructed and what has been permanently damaged as a result of the gunshot. it is amazing to think she was shot at point blank range, basically, with a 9 millimeter pistol to the head. it is incredible she's alive at all, frankly. and now she's here with some of the world's leading you're ini neurosurgeons and specialist that will help her recover as

much as possible. this will be a process that goes on for weeks or months, so it is going to be quite a long time before we know the outcome of this treatment. >> she sounds like a fighter and she has the whole world rallying around her. dan rivers for us in a rainy birmingham. dan, thank you. let's go next to islam balm, to pakistan, where reza day ssayah standing by. in terms of her safety, she is safe right now, as she is in britain, in that hospital. but what about her family? from what i understand the taliban is threatening to go after them. >> reporter: well, the father is with malala. he's safe for the time being. but just several days after the shooting, the taliban said if malala survives, we're going to go after her again, we're going to go after her father as well. if there is a strategy behind this taliban threat, i'm not sure what it is. but it certainly drives home the fact that for the taliban, no target is off limits, not even a

14-year-old girl. >> reza, what about the pakistani government? is this not a moment where they can take this opportunity and stand up, stand up against the taliban? >> reporter: well, some people are describing it as such, a potential turning point for the government, in their fight against militant sy, others are concerned this opportunity is going to fade away. here is what i can tell you, never in my stay here have i seen this type of intense and widespread anger aimed at the taliban. here is a glimpse of the fury, some people we spoke with. >> we don't want taliban anymore in pakistan. and after the malala incident, this is about time that people of pakistan stand up. >> the masses you can see here, in these people, they are condemning the acts of taliban. >> reporter: now, the outrage is obviously there, but many say the key is the government. what will they do? will they bolster their

counterinsurgency, counterterrorism, go after the militants and win hearts and minds by building schools and giving people here the most basic needs. it is a monster task. many of the critics of this government say they can't do it. others say if they're going to do it, this is an opportunity. >> has anyone been arrested in connection with this? >> reporter: a lot of people detained, brooke, but when you ask the top military spokesperson if the gunman has been arrested, he wouldn't say. a lot of pressure on the government to get these culprits. not just because they went after a teenager, but how they did it. here is a graphic description of how malala was shot. take a listen. >> she got hit on the left side behind the forehead. >> reporter: she got hit directly in the head? >> yeah. she got hit in the head, and then traveled through here, through the neck and went behind the shoulder and rested just next to the backbone. >> reporter: was this a point

blank shot? >> it was a point blank shot, yeah. >> reporter: are you surprised that she is even alive today? >> yes. everyone is surprised that she is alive today. >> reporter: so was it a small caliber gun? >> yeah, i think it was 9 mm probably. >> reporter: have you ever seen someone get shot in the head with a 9 millimetersurvive? >> such cases are very rare. >> reporter: a 14-year-old girl shot directly in the head, brooke, and somehow, some way, she's still alive. just incredible. >> incredible but absolutely reprehensible as well. reza sayah, thank you for staying on the story. so much interest globally. if you are interested in honoring and supporting malala and her fight for girls education in pakistan, you can. go to cnn.com/impact to get more information. and it is that moment where there is absolutely no turning back at all, jumping out of a capsule, this gives me butterflies watching it over again. 24 miles above the earth,

plummeting toward the ground. hear what fearless felix has to say about this.

he called it, quote, standing on top of the world.

austrian daredevil felix baumgartner is living to tell how he completed this dive, from this stratosphere, 24 miles up. >> sometimes you have to be really high to see how small you are. i'm going home now. >> baumgartner broke the sound barrier traveling more than 830 miles per hour and landed on his feet, in roswell, new mexico. just look at this. he went three times higher than the cruising altitude of an airliner. and stay with me, because at the end of next hour, we'll relive this heart thumping experience through the words of fearless felix himself. from a fearless stunt to fearless politics. want to take a moment to remember arlen specter, the gruff, independent, long time

senator from pennsylvania lost his battle against non-hodgkin's lymphoma. >> congress should try to stop the supreme court from further eroding -- >> the senator spent more than 30 years in the u.s. senate, most of the time as a moderate, reach across the aisle kind of republican. when his centrist view lost favor with the gop, specter switched parties. listen as he makes that announcement. >> prospects for weighing a republican primary are bleak. i am not prepared to have my 29-year record in the united states senate decided by the pennsylvania republican primary electorate. >> in 2010, he lost the democratic primary, but did not give up. the former republican who once sat on the warren commission supported abortion rights, opposed his party by opposing robert bork's bid for the

supreme court, but supported clarence thomas, the republican who openly criticized his party from impeaching president clinton took an unexpected career turn. >> i've been in the senate for 30 years, practicing comedy. >> yep, arlen specter gave comedy a try. comedy of the stand-up kind. and i had the chance to interview arlen specter when he was working the comedy circuit and he used the same 30 years in politics line with me. this was a guy dubbed snarling arlen on capitol hill and he hits the comedy circuit. here we are talking about exactly that. i have to ask, more than three decades into congress, you walk into open mike night, why? >> well, i've had a lot of experience in comedy. been a senator for 30 years. but i think the humor is very important. it lightens things up. when it lightens up a little

bit, you talk to one another. right now, in the congress of the united states, senate and house, nobody talks to each other. so a little humor could help out down there. >> so you're lightening certainly up this comedy club in pennsylvania. as the former senate judiciary chair, let me remind everyone, i watched the show online and if i may, sir, some of the material is fairly risque. are you running the jokes past your wife? >> well, all of the risque stories i told were approved at home by my wife joan. >> and arlen specter's wife of 59 years joan survives. also this, president obama ordered flag flies at half-staff tomorrow on all government buildings to honor senator arlen specter. the ones getting the most lethal aid in syria reportedly are exactly the ones the u.s. doesn't want to have it. why? that's next. here to here.

this bigger screen goes from here to here. now that's either a) an amazing coincidence .. or b) a dazzling display of common sense. pretty sure it's the common sense thing.

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president obama: i'm barack obama and... i approve this message. ♪ ♪ hi dad. many years from now, when the subaru is theirs... hey. you missed a spot. ...i'll look back on this day and laugh.

love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. couple of troubling developments out of syria, i want to tell you about here. first this. more explosions rock the troubled nation amid new accusations from the international community over who is arming the battle and where the arms are ending up. a cnn source confirms what the new york times first reported this morning that weapons meant to aid the secular opposition in syria are winding up in the hands of hard line islamic jihadists. also human rights watch released this video, russian made cluster bombs being dropped on syria's populated areas by the syrian government.

syria and russia both denying that claim. but i want to bring in cnn international's hala gorani to talk about this, joining me live from washington. let's begin with the news just in, these brand-new sanctions against the assad regime. what do we know? >> reporter: right, i -- we can discuss the cluster bombs in a moment because of how dangerous they are after they actually are dropped from planes, but you mensed t e mentioned the sanctions and they're interesting because they're targeting the syrian national airline essentially. the european union is saying that syrian airlines flights are not welcome, they are banned from eu airports. now, this discussion has sparked, of course, the debate over how effective the sanctions truly are because though the syrian airlines are operated and controlled by the government, so therefore could constitute a slap on the race to the assad regime what you're doing is saying to ordinary syrians who might want to fly from syria to

an eu airport, you can't do that anymore. and turkey has banned syrian civilian aircraft from its air space as well. that's another door shut also for ordinary civilians who were up until a few weeks ago able at least to fly in and out of the country from the country's major airports. the sanctions also affect 28 people that have had their assets frozen in the european union and they're expanding essentially sanctions in place already, brooke. >> okay, so this is the ramifications of some of the new sanctions. number two, back to the report, this video, we'll replay the video, this human rights watch releasing this video, reporting these russian-made cluster bombs. tell me what we're seeing, hala, as we look at this, what this may be proving? >> first of all, i just want to remind our viewers what cluster bombs are. they're illegal in many parts of the world. they're bigger bombs that rain down smaller bomb blitz, so they essentially explode into small tiny bomb bits. they fall on the ground.

they do not all detonate. so they constitute a risk to civilians, especially children who sometimes end up finding them on the ground and playing with them. this is a terrible, terrible weapon. and in some of that amateur video that human rights watch is showing us has used to make some of the determinations it has in this latest report, you see people handling these tiny little bombs. they can explode at any moment. it is extremely dangerous. and there needs to be that information circulated that, you know if you find them, leave them where they are. but as i said, this is an insidious weapon. it is terribly destructive. in the end, it hurts civilians a lot more than combatants because of the tiny bombs that end up remaining on the ground or buried or buried in a shallow land fill and found by civilians. they have issues with that that are very frightening for the future of the country as well. >> absolutely. hala, thank you very much. we appreciate it. now this. iran --

>> it is complicated. >> you love black people too? everybody in iran loves black people. >> an american basketball player scared to death of iran goes there to play anyway. and suddenly he finds himself in the middle of this chaotic surprise you have to hear his story. next. ah.

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i have this incredible story to share with you, but first when you hear the word iran, what do you think? you think nukes? you think ahmadinejad and you think harsh rhetoric. that's what one american basketball player first thought, in fact, he was terrified of iran but accepted a gig there anyway. and that is when he got a huge surprise. cnn's nischelle turner has his story. >> reporter: even when you know

you got game -- not even breaking a sweat. >> reporter: the game here -- >> i thought about iran was hell no. >> reporter: -- gets complicated. >> i don't know what he's talking about. >> reporter: and downright comical for american point guard kevin shepard, the subject of the new documentary, the iran job. >> you love black people too? everybody in iran likes black people. you're my man. >> reporter: after college ball in florida, shepard played on pro teams around the world. then in 2008, he was one of 13 americans recruited by the iranian super league. >> i said to myself, well, if i get there and it is everything like the news said it was, weapons of mass destruction, these people are crazy, they got bin laden over here hiding, i'm just going to get on the next plane and come right back home. >> reporter: the 6 foot star joined iran's only nongovernment sponsored team in the cultural center of shiraz. >> here i was in a country where they have all these signs, down

wi with usa and usa is the evil one and i meet with people and they're, like, yo, i love kobe bryant, i love lebron james, i want to go to america and be a superstar. >> reporter: he found himself at home and a filmmaker found a story. >> i read about the handful of players who do this in iran. and was right away inspired to find somebody who could be our tour guide there. >> they love america. special black america. >> it struck me that these players could potentially be bridge builders. >> reporter: bridge building wasn't this player's priority. winning was. >> i always try to stay away from politics. because i'm just a basketball player. >> reporter: on his way to practice during the playoffs in 2009 -- >> this long streak, as far as your eyes can see, no turns, just straight, and one side was hezbollah, which is like their

police, their military police, and the other side was green protestants. >> reporter: the country's green mo movement was beginning. they were protesting the presidential election results and the athlete found himself in the middle of an uprising. >> i'm caught between basically almost a million people. that's when i said, man, this thing right here ain't no basketball. this right here is starting to get serious. >> reporter: the government quickly swept the protesters off the streets. >> the people were at the end of the day they were denied, but you can also see that the seed of change already. >> this story here needs to be told. >> reporter: to get it told they put footage on crowd funding site kick starter and raised more than $100,000 online from regular people worldwide to finish the film. the protesters may have been quieted, but a movie capturing their movement has been made possible by a point guard and a

loud voice of the people. nischelle turner, cnn, hollywood. >> nischelle turner, thank you for that. and next, cnn's candy crowley, the second woman to moderate a presidential debate solo ever, so who is first, you ask? >> my name is carol simpson. and i will be the moderator for tonight's 90-minute debate. >> carol simpson, we're talking to her live next. le boring. boring. boring. [ jack ] after lauren broke up with me, i went to the citi private pass page and decided to be...not boring. that's how i met marilyn... giada... really good. yes! [ jack ] ...and alicia. ♪ this girl is on fire [ male announcer ] use any citi card to get the benefits of private pass. more concerts, more events, more experiences. [ jack ] hey, who's boring now? [ male announcer ] get more access with the citi card. [ crowd cheering, mouse clicks ]

our candy crowley will be the second woman to moderate a town hall presidential debate. the first was carol simpson. she had the challenge of hosting that 1992 town hall that featured the three candidates. you had president george h.w. bush, then arkansas governor bill clinton, and ross perot and carol simpson joins me once again, live, from boston. carol, welcome back. and --

>> hi, brooke. >> you're the perfect person to talk to. this is the exact same format, this town hall, you know, when all these undecided voters come together in the audience, they ask the candidates the questions, you did this 20 years ago. my question to you is what is the biggest unknown as moderator in this kind of format? >> well, because it hadn't been tried before, there were no tapes i could go look at and see how you do this. so i was flying blindly on how to do this debate. but thought it was a wonderful concept to have real participatory democracy. and have the american voters ask questions of the candidates rather than just a panel of journalists. so i really am high on the format. but i was afraid that ordinary people would be very afraid to ask their questions. and that they might freeze. so i had questions on every

topic, i knew every candidate's position on every topic, so that in case things stopped, i would be able to keep the program going for 90 minutes. >> you are a prepared journalist. i would have expected nothing less. i would have had my three by five index cards as well. as you prepared, candy is preparing, i think the phrase she used is she's stuffing her head, overpreparing. here she is talking about it. >> with this, you want to make sure you're in on the campaign dialogue, that you're in on the policy debate, that you know when they move, because campaigns don't move sort of minute by minute. they move sort of incrementally over the months. and you have to kind of watch it. >> you have to watch it. and, carol, even though the audience is asking the questions, i presume, you know, you, as i know candy will, had to be up on everything to ask smart follow-ups. how exactly did you prepare for that? >> just listening to the people.

i was telling you earlier that i was scared to death before that debate -- >> we were talking at the commercial and i said were you really, really nervous. >> i was really, really nervous. when the red light came on, as i'm sure is in your case, you know you're on tv and it is live and you just go do your job, right. i am -- i am very concerned about candy right now. because the plot has thickened. there are rumors that the political campaigns and the commission on presidential debates is afraid she's going to veer from the guidelines that have been set down for how this debate should be going. >> let me put those rumors to rest and just say this is the exact same debate format and, you know, you faced, tom brokaw, charlie gibson, the town hall where the question comes from the audience, and the moderator has the follow-up.

>> has a follow-up, only if necessary. i was told only if it needs clarification, only if it needs a follow-up. so a lot of times the people themselves would follow-up and i didn't have to. but candy gets a chance to pick the questions, i understand, and that she can ask them in the order in which she likes. but there is this rumor that she is planning to ask some of her own questions because she's not allowed to under this format. >> from what i understand that is not -- that is not at all the case. and, guys correct me if i'm incorrect, but, no, i'm correct in saying, no she's not -- she's going along -- that's correct, she's absolutely following the rules and will do a phenomenal job at it, but allowing the members of the audience to ask the questions and if necessary she'll provide the follow-up. let me pivot, though, carol, because i want to ask about the candidates, specifically, with the town hall format, as you saw

firsthand, you know, it can be more conducive to a certain candidate. a lot of people are saying, this may be -- even though we saw him falter and not win that original debate, this is barack obama's wheel house. >> he was somnolent, our president was, during that debate. i would have to say he has the edge in this debate. one of mitt romney's problems throughout the campaign season has been does he relate to ordinary people? these are ordinary people. i think obama does relate to them well and that he, like bill clinton, his new best buddy, is going to be walking up to the people and, you know, touching them and relating to them well. it will be interesting to see if romney can pull that off. and i'm not sure he can. >> he was a strong -- a strong first debate for him. i think there is a lot of pressure on the president and

perhaps on mitt romney as well to bring it exactly like he did the last time. this time talking to the americans and the audience. we'll be watching. carol simpson, you'll be watching. you've known candy for decades. >> i can't wait. >> cannot wait. carol simpson, thank you. we appreciate it. and as we mentioned, round two here for the president and mitt romney tomorrow night, our special live coverage begins 7:00 eastern, cnn, and cnn.com. father, grandfather, circuit court judge, sunday schoolteacher. >> he was the center of our universe. >> the personal side of a suspected case of meningitis. [ male announcer ] this is sheldon, whose long dy setting up the news

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we have been talking about this debate tomorrow night, right, off extrauniversity in new york. and you see this packed room here where it says ohio for

obama. we won't be seeing the president, we'll see his wife, first lady speaking here in ohio. as we have been calling it, the mother of all swing states. in fact, as we wait for michelle obama to speak, let's throw up this tweet if we have it. we have learned that michelle obama has -- she has voted, she has cast her absentee ballot, there we go. the first lady. and as we await the first lady and you know ohio is tremendously important, we also are awaiting mitt romney's wife, ann romney. she, too, will be speaking in a swing state in pennsylvania and that will also be happening on our watch. we'll listen in for that, first, the first lady, then ann romney, as we count down the hours until tomorrow night and the second presidential debate in new york. americans believe they should be in charge of their own future.

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the growing meningitis outbreak across the country. now more than 200 cases reported. elizabeth cohen, you've been talking about this and you just now recently met a family, one of the first victims affected by this. tough stuff. >> just awful. they're reeling from the loss of this man, the patriarch of this family, a judge in kentucky. and they're not just sad right now, but they're really angry. so let's take a listen. >> lord, give us the strength to go forward. >> reporter: something's missing in the lovelace house. five generations gather in mourning. eddie lovelace, husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather, sunday schoolteacher at his church, and a circuit court judge in albany, kentucky, dead, a suspected case of fungal meningitis. what do you miss? >> he was the center of our universe as a family.

>> reporter: judge eddie lovelace was a healthy 78-year-old man, worked full time, walked three miles a day. when in the middle of september, he started feeling dizzy and slurring his speech. >> he was in the kitchen and he said, my legs don't work right. he said, there's something wrong with my legs. >> reporter: lovelace had had a stroke. lovelace died five days after being admitted to the hospital. >> it was a nightmare. >> reporter: later, the doctors put it together, lovelace had been in a car accident and received three injections with steroids for back and neck pain. the medicine he received was likely made by the new england compounding center. after his death, these injections were recalled because of fungal contamination, which can cause strokes. now all his family can do is remember the devoted public servant, the grandfather who let his granddaughters play with bashies behind the bench when they were little, while he heard court cases. what kind of a man was your dad? >> he was the most intelligent

man i had ever met. his memory was uncanny. if you needed advice, irregardless of what the subject was, you could always take his and trust it. >> reporter: his family looks back and asks why. >> the decisions to save money, the decisions not to regulate drugs, decisions not to oversee these facilities, those decisions affect lives every day. and if different decisions had been made at certain points along the way, my father would be here today. >> reporter: your father just went in for a very routine procedure. >> he did. and he went there for pain relief. he went there to get help. >> reporter: and he got -- >> death. >> so watching that, one question for you, the judge's son says his father would be alive had this drug been

regulated properly. is that correct? >> it is hard to say, but there is no question that there are serious problems with how this drug is regulated. very little federal oversight. and even limited state oversight. and now congress members -- members of congress are saying we need to do something about this, so there is action to try to take care of this problem, because these aren't the first people to die from drugs made in compounding pharmacies. >> so sad. more than 200 cases so far. elizabeth cohen, thank you so much. and top of the hour, i'm brooke baldwin. good to be with you. let's jump right in to new developments in the race for president. we have now received this photo, this is the first lady, you know that, this is michelle obama posing with her absentee ballot in her hands. yep, the first lady now officially voted. the campaign says the president will vote apparently in person later this month in chicago. >> he's got to be more energetic, i think you'll see somebody who is very passionate about the choice -- >> first things first. president obama supporters are

looking for a little more zing at tomorrow night's debate in hempstead, new york. here is the president, thanking campaign volunteers in williamsburg, virginia, with a couple of pizzas, where he's been hunkered down doing debate preparations. meantime, mitt romney retired to boston to get himself ready for hempstead. his running mate today is in the mother of all battleground states. >> ohioans, you know you have a big say so. you know you're the battleground state of battleground states. you understand your responsibility, right? >> take a look at this. our cnn poll of polls today is showing ohio leaning toward obama, three-point advantage for the president there. florida, look at these numbers, now showing a three-point advantage for mitt romney. and the other biggie here, as we approach november 6th, virginia, obama up by one. gloria borger is our chief political analyst.

gloria, good to see you. >> tight race. >> tight race. exciting. i cannot wait for this debate tomorrow night. we know what the president needs to do or at least we know what his supporters say he needs to do, and he needs to be more aggressive. what about mitt romney? he won debate number two? you think he goes in with the same game plan or what? >> i think what mitt romney has to do is more of the same. i think what he did in first debate was make himself acceptable to certain people who may have had doubts about it. i mean, you can't fire the president unless you believe that the person who is running against him would be an acceptable president. and i think mitt romney crossed that threshold if you look at the polls. he's also got one other thing he's got do, brooke, every poll you take people say that mitt romney doesn't understand their problems. or doesn't understand the problems of the middle class. and mitt romney loses to the president by two to one, three to one. this is a town hall. he has to try and make it clear

to the people in that room and to the people watching that he understands what they're going through, and that he has a plan to rescue them if they feel they're in a really big rut. >> talking to, talking with, not talking at. >> exactly. exactly. >> we talk polls. i want to point our viewers to this washington post/abc news poll. one thing i noticed is this bump in enthusiasm among the romney supporters. 62% of romney supporters now say they support him enthusiastically. that is up 14 points since before the conventions. and in terms of enthusiasm, we have been talking about so much, gloria, of the lack of enthusiasm, this is important, is it not? >> really important. don't forget, you were there, brooke, every step of the way during the primaries. mitt romney was a lot of people's second choice, right? and he finally crawled across the finish line and even at his convention, you didn't feel the enthusiasm there, the way you felt enthusiasm at the democratic convention for president obama.

what you're seeing now is republicans saying, you know what, i really want to support this person and as you talk about getting out the vote, which is, of course, key to an election, you talk about early voting in states like ohio, and iowa, two important battlegrounds that are going on right now, this enthusiasm is very important. one more thing, brooke that is important, is mitt romney's likability. he was under water on likability. now he's about 50, 51%. that's very good for him. so that's heading in the right direction for him as well. >> what did you tell me during primary season that mitt romney is the guy your parents want you to date, you're kind of, meh. >> they wanted to fix you up with him and you never wanted to date him and then finally you're, like, okay. i think they're dating now. >> they're dating. he's the guy, potentially. back to the poll, though, the abc news/washington post poll. an interesting tidbit.

42% of those polled say the country is headed in the right direction. not a great number for the obama campaign. heck of a lot better than 29%, which is how the poll read before the conventions. how important is that? gloria borger, for the president? >> 42% ain't great, but it is a lot better than 29%. and what that means is that people are feeling more optimistic about their future and whether their life is going to be better a year from now. that's another question that is asked very often. and so that's very good for the incumbent president because if people feel in their own lives whether it is because they're getting a job or they see the unemployment rate coming down, whatever, if they feel more optimistic, then they're going to be more willing to give the president the benefit of the doubt, have the patience as bill clinton said you ought to have when he spoke on the president's behalf at the convention, say, okay, we were in a really deep ditch, he needs a little bit

more time to get out of -- to get out of it. so they might be willing to give -- if they think things are getting better in their own lives. this is a really important number for the president. >> okay. gloria, thank you very much. let's remind everyone, round two for the president and mitt romney tomorrow night, our own candy crowley moderating the debate. our special live coverage on cnn, cnn.com begins at 7:00 eastern. as we look ahead to tomorrow night, you know both mitt romney and president obama are hunkering down, all about debate prep. today, who do we see? first lady. also want to remind you we'll be hearing from ann romney sometime next -- this hour in pennsylvania. but here is the first lady, she is in delaware, ohio. that's the town. delaware, ohio. take a listen. >> he is incredibly smart. but let me tell you, that is not why i married him. no. no. what truly made me fall in love with my husband was his character, you know.

i mean that, it was his decency and honesty. it is the same thing we see in him every single day as president, that compassion and conviction. see, i loved that barack was so committed to serving others that he turned down high paying jobs and instead started his career working to get folks back to work in struggling communities. and i loved -- [ applause ] >> yes. one of my favorite things about that man. and i loved that barack was so devoted to his family. when we first met, especially the women in his life. i saw the respect that he had for his mother. i saw how proud he was that she put herself through school, by supporting him and his sisters as a single mom. i saw the tenderness he felt for his grandmother. i saw how grateful he was that long after she should have retired, she was still waking up every morning, to catch that bus

to her job at the community bank, doing everything she could to support he and his family. and he also watched as she was passed over again and again for promotions, simply because she was a woman. but he also saw -- i know there are a lot of women who understand that -- he also saw how she kept on getting up every day, you know, doing that same job year after year without complaint, or regret. see, with barack, i found a real connection because in his life story, i saw so much of my own. because growing up on the south side of chicago, i watched my father -- i love chicago too -- it's where i grew up. and my father, he would make that same uncomplaining journey, every day to his job at the city water plant. and i saw how my father carried himself with that same dignity,

you know? that same pride in providing for his family, that same hope that his kids would one day have opportunities he never dreamed of. >> first lady of the united states speaking there to a crowd in delaware, ohio. and so many people say she's absolutely effective at getting personal, telling the personal anecdotes about should and barack, about the president of the united states. we also did learn just a little tidbit she cast her absentee ballot so we have a photo of that. she tweeted that out. she is speaking in this mother of all swing states today. here it is. here is the photo. she is speaking in ohio, also want to let you know, we will be hearing from ann romney as well, a little later this hour in pennsylvania, another incredibly important battleground state for these two men come november 6th. here live pictures. see the sign, women for mitt. incredibly important voting bloc, just heard the first lady talking about women. women, you hear me? and so we'll be hearing from ann romney as well, both of the

their other halves are hunkered down, mitt romney in boston, the president in williamsburg, virginia, getting ready for the big debate tomorrow night at hofstra university. up next, a huge cnn interview, ali velshi sat down with a major player at the federal reserve bank. he talked interest rates. he talked housing. he talked stimulus. everything that impacts your wallet. there he is. we're about to hear exactly what he said next. ♪

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i like free. free is good. my money. my choice. my meineke. a major player at the federal reserve bank took on one of the basic debates of economists, is the government trying to do too much. today the president of new york's federal reserve bank william dudley spoke exclusively with ali velshi about the fed's efforts to keep interest rates low. ali velshi, our chief business correspondent, joins me live from new york. good to see you, sir. >> you're so enthusiastic about it. you always pitch these things as so big, i feel -- i just get elated, take a breath in when you introduce. >> before i went to break, i felt like i saw a big old grin on your face. the feeling is mutual, my friend. before we talk about what he told you, william dudley is an important guy, hammer home how important he is. >> that's the point.

you said it was a big interview. for guys like me, it is. for a lot of people who don't know who william dudley is, he's the chairman of the federal reserve bank of new york. this was, by the way, tim geithner's job before he became treasury secretary. dudley's been in that job since february of 2009. the reason it is important is because unlike being one of the regional federal reserve banks, this one oversees the federal institutions and the banks. it is central to our banking and our financial system. that's why he's a big deal. >> okay. so big deal. and i want to get back to the government potentially trying to do too much. critics saying the feds push to keep interest rates low may be creating a bubble, yes? >> right. so there is -- there are two issues. the critics who don't like the fed's low interest rate policy are those on fixed income, and who can't get any return when they put money into a bank account. you get nothing. then the idea of keeping the interest rates low could cause houses to get more expensive and

you could create a bubble. here's what he said. >> there is no sign of a housing becoming overly exuberant yet. we're way far away from that. we're on the -- the patient left the hospital, now convalescing at home. so a long way before we get worried about housing overheating. you look -- i think federal reserve basically is responsible for setting interest rates in the economy. this idea that somehow the fed can remove itself and let interest rates be whatever they're going to be, that does not -- that's not a credible thought. >> that comment is for people who say, why isn't the federal reserve get out of this business of doing things to keep interest rates low and just let them go where they're going to go? in fact, the structure that involves the central bank and particularly the federal reserve doesn't sort of have a setting for the fed not being involved. they can be less involved but not involved isn't really an option. >> he says that the patient at home to use his metaphor still healing. we're ready for the patient to be well. there is a report in the l.a. times talking about moody's,

moody's analytics, they found household debt back down to prerecession levels. families are getting their budgets in order. he did talk about that or any positive signs? >> he's relatively optimistic. he certainly feels we're not in the position he was in four years ago when he took his job. he refers to monetary policy. that's the -- that's what the fed does, whether they keep interest rates low or high and they do that by putting more money into the economy or taking money out. but he says in addition to debt coming down, there are some other positive signs in the economy and here's what he says. >> i think we have pretty easy monetary policy in place and as the economy heals, that monetary policy will become more effective over time. if we get rid of the uncertainties for the fiscal cliff, that will be helpful as well. the other thing i think is important, the u.s. is actually becoming really competitive relative to the rest of the world because of what is happening in terms of our energy

markets, production of natural gas and oil has increased dramatically. the cost of electricity has been falling. >> which helps in the united states. >> this is a very competitive place to set up manufacturing activity. i think that's going to be another thing that's going to help us. >> and, brooke, that's an important point there that as we have more energy discovered in the united states, particularly natural gas, which can be used for electricity production, a stable low cost of electricity is available to u.s. manufacturers which could bring down the cost of building things in the united states, and that's what some economists are looking for as one of the drivers of the economy in the next few years. housing is another one. doing infrastructure building and repair is another one. so he had some sense of what the economy might look a -- how the economy might look a few years down the road, brooke. >> i couple of the item as we were talking last week, hopefully all that together helps create jobs, right? >> has to be done together. but that's when these people say we're going to -- the two candidates say we're going to create jobs, these are the kinds of things they can turn to for greater job creation. >> ali velshi, thank you.

>> always my pleasure. >> all right. now let's talk about drones, military drones, the future of warfare. now and a necessity. >> once you try to use a drone, you don't know how you lived without it before, like our cell phones. >> coming up next, israel shows off its drones amid tensions with iran.

the future of warfare is here. it is all about the drones. israel is clearly touting its sophisticated drone capabilities after iran's bragging over a drone launched by hezbollah this month flew in israeli air space. here's what's not so clear. is what israel plans to do about challenges from iran. cnn's sarah sider in got a close-up look at the state of the art israeli made technology. >> reporter: a week after a drone from its sworn enemy hezbollah made it deep inside israel's air space before being blown to bits, israel showed off its latest drone, the israeli made heron 1. it is fitted with the most advanced radar system, two cameras, night vision, laser and satellite technology. all of which can beam back stunningly sharp images in real

time to anywhere in the world. and the unmanned aerial vehicle can take off and land automatically, even in bad weather, stay in the air for up to 24 hours, and scan up to 90 miles away. in this test we watched the drone leave northern israel, minutes later it is flying over a ship off israel's coast and beaming back images from thousands of feet in the air. images so sharp, you can read the name of the ship and dozens of other details. >> once you try to use a drone, you don't know how you lived without it before, like our cell phones. how did we manage without cell phones 15, 20 years ago? the same with drones. >> reporter: israel has been using drones for years, especially over gaza. this is the kind of upgraded technology militaries all over the world are after, says this retired israeli air force captain who didn't want his face shown for security reasons. >> i think all over the world

you will find countries that try to develop uav, every country try. and i think uav, it is a threat. it is a threat everywhere. >> reporter: one of those countries vying for drones is israel's nemesis iran. and the iran-backed hezbollah militants in neighboring lebanon. >> translator: resistance in lebanon has sent an advanced surveillance drone from the lebanese territories towards the sea and through the stern from hundreds of kilometers over the sea. then the drone penetrated the enemy's defense procedures and ended the occupied southern palestine and flew over critical and important bases and installations until it was discovered by the enemy near the area of damona. >> reporter: damona is of particular concern to israel and its enemies because of the nuclear reactor and suspected

weapons program in that town. while israel has not revealed where the drone went and why it wasn't shot down before it was far inside israeli air space, iran publicly boasted about its role in the drone mission and took a jab at israel's defense capabilities. sunday a member of iran's parliament and national security on foreign policy commission told iran's semiofficial news agency fares the most important message of the hezbollah drones penetration into the occupied territories was that the zionest claims on attacking iran are unfounded, since the regime is not able to defend itself against iran's missile capabilities. a senior israeli official scoffed at the idea saying israel has no illusions about the capabilities or intentions of iran or its subsidiary hezbollah. what is clear is the future of warfare is here, and this is it. what is less clear is what israel plans to do about a

provocation by its number one concern, iran. sarah sidner, cnn, jerusalem. which presidential candidate is best for your wall street? the results of a new poll is in. which candidate they chose and why. everyone in the nicu, all the nurses wanted to watch him when he was there 118 days. everything that you thought was important to you changes in light of having a child that needs you every moment.

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this, the economy issue number one here in this election. and how you're feeling about your finances will absolutely finance who gets your vote. and there is a new poll out today showing that more people say an obama presidency will help their wallet. let's go to alison kosik at the new york stock exchange. this has to be good news for the president. >> you know what, it is kind of good news for him, but the numbers show they're good for the president.

29% say their finances will be better under president obama. 20% say better under romney. in the survey done by bank rate, obama shows that he's up because the economy is improving. but here's where the wrench is thrown in. 45% of those polled in this say, you know what it doesn't matter who is elected, they're not excited about either one of these candidates, so, there is room for each of these guys to try to strike a chord with voters because voting is personal. and people's personal financial situation is really being shown to be the deciding factor in the election, a majority of people, 62% say their finances are an important factor or the most important factor and you look at what the kennedies are doi the the pundits are doing, but the analysts are saying voters pay attention to the small picture. to them, reality is what is going on in their own life. ask somebody about the job market and their answer is likely going to be based on their own personal situation with their friends and family are doing, not those national unemployment numbers.

>> speaking of people's personal situations, how are people feeling these days about retirement savings, about home prices, that kind of thing. >> and that's the interesting thing, you're not seeing real consistency. there is some improvement in little pockets, it is not happening everywhere. let's start with the glass half full. home prices, past three months, home prices are up. many economists are saying housing has turned a corner. retirement, look at how retirement savings are doing, the s&p 500, that's what our retirement accounts really track. and, you know what, the s&p 500 is doing pretty well this year. it almost made back everything that was lost during the recession. okay, so now let's go to that glass half empty. wages are up 1.5% over the past year. guess what, that's not enough to keep up with inflation. plus, lots of these jobs that are coming out, these are low wage jobs. that doesn't really help to make ends meet. so the job market, it is only okay, unemployment is falling, but the reality is unemployment isn't falling fast enough. good jobs aren't coming back. brooke? >> alison kosik, thank you.

job creation is so important, and i know the americans want specifics from both the candidates on that. i want to take you next to syria, one of the worst case scenarios unfolding there. weapons meant for syrian rebels ending up in the wrong hands. one source tells cnn it is happening. we're live at the pentagon next. jack, you're a little boring. boring. boring. [ jack ] after lauren broke up with me, i went to the citi private pass page and decided to be...not boring. that's how i met marilyn... giada... really good. yes! [ jack ] ...and alicia.

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after the health care law. ♪ medicare open enrollment. now's the time. visit medicare.gov or call 1-800-medicare. ♪ pretrial hearings for alleged 9/11 mastermind khalid sheikh mohammed and four co-conspirators are under way at guantanamo bay naval base in cuba. unlike their last appearance in may, today the defendants sat quietly. the men are being prosecuted in the special military tribunal for the 9/11 attacks. all five could face the death penalty. now to this troubling report concerning where arms -- where weapons meant for rebels and syria are now ending up.

new york times today is reporting and cnn has now confirmed that weapons meant to aid the secular opposition, the rebels there in syria, are getting into the hands of hard-line islamic jihadists. straight to the pentagon to our correspondent there, chris lawrence. you have checked your sources. what are they telling you about the weapons? >> well, they're saying that there is indications that some weapons are ending up in the hands of hard liners or jihadists in syria. they say that right now it is extremely hard to try to faction out exactly who is who in syria and that is one of the main problems. the sources tell us that, you know, certain brigades like the lee wa brigade received some aid and arms from syria and qatar while others, the farouk brigade, for example, they consider extremely well armed but they have received some of their weapons from lebanese

militant groups. the sources feel it is not all coming directly from saudi arabia and qatar, but it is a growing problem and it is something the state department has been tracking just today. state department spokeswoman victoria newland saying this is something that all nations have to keep a closer eye on, saying they have been tracking the movement of weapons into syria along with some of the nations that are providing a lot more firepower than the u.s. is right now. >> and we look at syria, we look at the calendar. 22 days until the election. and i know this will absolutely play into that foreign policy debate next week. and presumably one or two questions tomorrow night. >> it presents a problem for both candidates, brooke. when you look at president obama, he could be criticized for the u.s.' hands off approach, allowing some of the arab states to be the direct facilitators of that aid, even the nonlethal aid that the u.s. is providing. so in some ways there could be, you know, some criticism of the

obama administration for not being more directly involved in seeing what aid is given to some of the rebel groups there. on the other hand, governor mitt romney has said that he would pry heavier weapons to the rebels. he feels they aren't being equipped in the same way that, you know, the syrian regime is, that he would give anti-tank, antiaircraft weapons, these are much more powerful potent weapons than the u.s. has given so far, compared to the nonlethal aid that the obama administration has been giving. but he said he's not necessarily signing off on the idea that the u.s. would directly give that aid, that he too would depend on arab states to sort of move some of the equipment in. and so it -- he too could be open to criticism of, you know, sort of allowing this to happen without having a direct u.s. presence is involved. >> speaking at vmi recently, mitt romney saying they should be armed, but wasn't specific as to who should arm them. chris lawrence for us at the pentagon.

chris, thank you. now look at this. think you could stand on a platform, a cool 24 miles up, and do this? yeah, not so much on my part. but felix baumgartner did exactly that. amazingly, successfully he fell more than 800 miles per hour. so what is his next adventure? we'll find out next. to tell ret our new 15 under $15 menu. oh my goodness! oh my gosh, this looks amazing! that's a good deal! [ man ] wow! it is so good! [ male announcer ] our new maine stays! 15 entrees under $15, seafood, chicken and more! oo! the tilapia with roasted vegetables! i'm actually looking at the wood grilled chicken with portobello wine sauce. you so fascinated by the prices, you keep rambling on! i know! -that pork chop was great! -no more fast food friday's! so we gotta go! we're going to go to red lobster. yep. [ male announcer ] try our 15 under $15 menu and sea food differently! ♪ [ male announcer ] the first look...is only the beginning. ♪

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don't think you have to teach innovation. you have to coax people out of their fear of trying to innovate. everybody has creative abilities. but people just don't express them. i see people come in here that are afraid to try anything. you give them some classes, some encouragement, they have some success with their products, and you see them just change. you see them light up. you see them say, wow, i really can do this. this is stunning. they're stunned.

you watched this yesterday, the record-breaking skydive from the stratosphere, at least 8 million people followed it on youtube alone. watching this guy, felix baumgartner step off this 128,100 feet up there in the air, yeah. needless to say, gave me butterflies for a few minutes watching this. still, though, we wanted to replay it for you in case you missed it. i can't get enough. here, again, is the first time a man outside any kind of vehicle has broken the sound barrier. you're going to hear now from fearless felix himself. >> at this time we have begun balloon inflation. capsule systems are green. instrumentation is green. payload is green. medical systems are green. >> there is the release. and there is the applause, a

successful rise. >> just sitting there and you -- you thought about that moment so many times, how it would feel, and how it would look like, and this is bigger than i anticipated. let me tell you, when i was standing there, on top of the world, you become so humble, you do not think about breaking records anymore, you do not think about gaining scientific data. the only thing you want is you want to come back alive, you know? you do not want to die in front of your parents, your girlfriend, all the people watching this. >> sometimes you have to go really high to see how small you are. i'm going home now. >> speed 725.

>> i know the whole world is watching now and i wish the world could see what i see. i had it under control when i went off. did a slow rotation. and then it started spinning so violently, spun me around in all different directions, you know? >> and felix is back to earth safely, a new world record holder! >> it is way more difficult than everything i have done so far. i think i'm done. >> i think i'm done, so says felix baumgartner. chad myers, i know you were watching, you were here yesterday. i was tweeting with all the people, brooke, are you watching this. of course i was.

here's really one of my questions is what happens -- once he hopped out of the capsule, what happened to the balloon and the capsule? >> it went up a little bit because his weight left the capsule, so the balloon went up a little bit. when he got to the ground, they release the balloon, the balloon collapsed, parachute opened and the capsule landed 50 miles from where he was. they didn't want it to land on top of him or chase him down to the ground. they let it up there for a few minutes and then yanked it and came down on the parachute. >> i was watching when he was jumping off, reading about the delta move when you're supposed to tuck and fall and i thought he was spinning and thought my goodness this is not a good thing. what is the most dangerous part for him? >> when he left the capsule, we watched it, almost like being -- watching a high definition video of a roller coaster. you know how sometimes your stomach -- you can feel it even though you're not really in the coaster. that's what it felt like to us as we watched it here, as he

jumped. and then you see him fall for five, ten seconds and you expect the parachute, but it went for four and a half minutes before he finally pulled the chute. now, somewhere in the middle there he was 833.9 miles per hour. when there was no air. when he started to hit the air, started to slow down, that's when he tumbled. that was the most dangerous part. that tumbling could have pushed blood into his head, literally could have killed him. it was a little parachute to stop that from happening, but he knew he was in trouble. he didn't want that parachute to pull. he wanted to get this thing done. >> and he did. he says he's done. >> now. >> chad, thank you so much. i do remember that he said, you know, he's done with this, but wants to go on to become a rescue helicopter rescue pilot. that is next for felix baumgartner. we promised we would play -- we would find and take and listen to ann romney in elizabeth town, pennsylvania. i want to play this sound, we heard from the first lady a little while ago. here is ann romney in pennsylvania, addressing the crowd moments ago.

>> i loved, by the way, the last debate. any of you get a chance to watch that? [ applause ] i loved the fact that i think 70 million americans got a chance to see my husband, unfiltered. [ applause ] no negative ads. no media interpretation. it was just mitt. and guess what? they heard with their ears and they saw with their eyes and what did they see? a man ready and prepared to lead this country. [ applause ] i also love the convention. i'm just going to tell you one quick story about that convention, and that was i appreciate very much that people stood up and said, excuse me,

this is not the person that keeps being talked about by the opposition, this is not the man i know. let me tell you about the man i know. and pat and ted stood up, ted was a firefighter from medford, massachusetts, we were -- it was in the 19 -- mid'70s, i think, i remember because -- ben -- ben was born -- i have to go this way, tagg, '71, let me see, josh was -- '78. ben was born in 1978. that's how i have to figure it out. ben was 2, would have been 1980, that we had the opportunity -- we knew this family, and their son david, 14 years old, was diagnosed with leukemia. and mitt took it upon himself, even though he was raising at that point only four boys, very busy in his professional career, we had the opportunity to befriend this family when they were going through this enormous

trial. mitt got closer and closer to david as he would visit him in the hospital. david was in and out of the hospital, by the way, for seven months. and mostly at the end of his life in the hospital, but at the beginning in and out. and on one of those occasions when mitt was visiting, he said, david what do you love so much in life? what is it that you want to do when you get out of the hospital next? he said, i love fireworks. mitt's next visit, he brought david a huge box of fireworks and made sure when he got out of the hospital, he was able to go safely shoot them off. along with a supervision of his firefighter father. and so -- >> there she is, ann romney speaking in elizabethtown, pennsylvania, one of the crucial states we have been talking about in the leadup to the election on november 6th. we saw first lady speaking in another incredibly important state earlier today, that being ohio there out and about on the trail today as their other halves are taking some time, both of them, to prep for the big debate. quick reminder, that debate tomorrow night hosted by our own

candy crowley, tomorrow night, 9:00 eastern at hofstra university in new york. meantime, let's continue talking politics and selling the message. my next guest says in order to make an impact on voters, political players need to mold their messages just like marketing ads. you'll see where romney and where obama have made or missed the marks. [ male announcer ] now you can swipe... scroll... tap... pinch... and zoom... in your car. introducing the all-new cadillac xts with cue. ♪ don't worry. we haven't forgotten, you still like things to push. [ engine revs ] the all-new cadillac xts has arrived, and it's bringing the future forward.

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president obama and mitt romney spend a lot of time talking about facts and figures, and well, themselves. but what if both men are missing out on the big picture. jonas sax joins me. jonah, welcome.

you're an ad guy. you mold messages so, you know, so something will sell. so before we apply this to politics, your litmus test, you talk about this, is whether or not someone is an effective story teller and not the once upon a time kind of story. can you explain? >> sure. marketers learned long ago that if you just push your product based on the facts or the claims, it's very hard for audiences to get really inspired and to be part of the campaign that you're putting out there. but if you can tell a story, paint a compelling view of the world that people want to be apart of and make your audience a hero in that story. tell them where they are in relation to you not just a story you're selling them. that's where you start to build tribes of people who are passionate about your cause. >> compelling view of the world. as we apply that to politicians, give me examples of the past. tell me, first of all, one person who is not a good storyteller. >> well, i think we saw john

kerry in 2004 breaking a lot of the storytelling rules. first of all, he really relied on what he saw as his superior intellect. so he would get frustrated in debates with bush as bush would put a story about what america was, he'd get frustrated and fall back on facts and claims. he also worked really hard to make himself the hero of his own story. and like i said, we need to find a way to give audience a part to play. so when he showed up at the dnc and said i'm john kerry reporting for duty, we had to sit back and become passive consumers of his message. you compare that to obama in 2008 who really made the audience the hero of the story and told us we can rebuild america, he's not going to do it for us. and you see the difference in the cultural resonance. >> it was the whole slogan, yes we can. but this time around you say here in 2012, the president has missed the storytelling mark. >> i think so. i think a lot of the frustration

in the first debate that people felt was that obama seemed above it all. he didn't really want to create that compelling vision of the future for us, tell us why we deserve to get there and then give us a real part to play in it. he would kind of fall back on his claims and his facts and ideas almost as if it didn't need to be packaged up into something that spoke to us on a values level. and i think people reacted seeing that he wasn't putting himself out there to really, again, to make us the hero of the story. and give us a compelling view. >> what about mitt romney? >> well, mitt romney has an interesting story. he also comes across as the turn-around guy. he has a vision of america where individual business people are out to change the world but government keeps getting in the way. and he's the kind of ceo who can come in and right the story. he's getting that point across well. but also, he's a stort of hero of his own story, as well, and is missing that chance to tell voters how they can become part of that story and fix america themselves. >> they'll have a chance to speak to undecided voters tomorrow night.

jonah, appreciate it. >> thanks, brooke. and just in to us here at cnn, a disturbing revelation about the growing meningitis outbreak. there may be more victims than we thought. ah. fire bad! just have to fire roast these tomatoes. do you churn your own butter too? what? this is going to give you a head start on your dinner. that seems easier sure does who are you? [ female announcer ] new progresso recipe starters. five delicious cooking sauces you combine with fresh ingredients to make amazing home-cooked meals. ♪ ambiance [ female announcer ] new progresso recipe starters. your head-start to home cooked. and i was told to call my next of kin. at 33 years old, i was having a heart attack. now i'm on a bayer aspirin regimen. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. i didn't know this could happen so young. take control, talk to your doctor. i didn't know this could happen so young. anncr: every president inherits few have faced so many.

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just in to cnn, the food and drug administration is warning people of the potential of more possible cases of fungal meningitis. this includes people who have received any drugs via injection not just steroid injections, very specific about that. at the center of a nationwide meningitis outbreak. the fda goes on to say that people who received the injections should be alerted to the potential risk out of an abundance of caution. joe biden will represent the administration at the funeral of arlen specter, he passed away just yesterday morning at the age of 82. specter known as